While the weather has still been cool in the Northeast, the action has been heating up in Connecticut's track and field scene.
On the first day of the Dan O'Grady Relays at Danbury and Penn Relays in Philadelphia , several state leading performances were set. Last year's CIAC hammer throw champion Christian Strum of St. Paul threw a PR of 178'5 which qualified for New Balance Outdoor Nationals championship section which is currently 15th in the nation.
Southington's Amanda Howe continues her outstanding senior year with back to back big days. On Thursday, she competed at the Penn Relays where she made finals in the discus and took 9th place, with a 144'8. She then made a the trip to Danbury where she set another PR in the hammer with a 155'11 which is the 8th best throw in the US this season and only seven feet off of her former training partner Brittany Jones's Connecticut state record.
Bloomfield coach Damian Larkins has been training Howe in the hammer and said she had a great day. "She was really solid especially given the terrible weather. She just needs more reps and practice; things are really coming along. Her turns were a little off, but finish was very explosive. She had a very consistent series in hammer."
Hillhouse boys and girls both won the 800m sprint medley (100m, 100m, 200m 400m), broke the meet record and qualified for NBON. The girls team of Nyimah Ambrose, Jada Boyd, Nyia White and Ayesha Nelson knocked three seconds off Windsor's time with a 1:48.93 which is good for 33rd nationally.
Talib McBride, Neal Eley, Manasseh Bekele and Deshaune Poole combined to run a 1:34.72 for the Hillhouse boys. They took a little over a tenth of a second off Shelton record and cracked the top 50 in the US.
Amity's boys 4 x 1600m of Andrew Burford, Jake Mattei, Ian Carpenter and Connor Visnic went right to the front on the first leg and also broke the meet record with a 18:14.24.
Megan Biscoglio of Southington improved on her state leading pole vaulter with an 11-11.75 to take 11th at Penn Relays. The performance qualifies Biscoglio for NBON Emerging Elite for the second year in a row.
William Hall High School took 5th in the distance medley relay off the fine efforts of Miller Anderson who split 3:04.07 for the 1200m leg, Naji Midddleton who ran 51.08 for 400m, Mohammed Ali who ran a who split a big PR of 1:56.03 and Trey Cormier who ran 4:22 for 1600m. The combined to set a new school record of 10:13.47 which also earns them a ticket to North Carolina for NBON.
Saturday will be a busy day in the state with Penn Relays and O'Gradys finishing up. Also on tap will be the Greater Bristol Invitational, Ledyard Relays and Stafford Rotary Relays. Look to see a lot of shake up of the state leader board after this weekend.